A.J. COPE & SON LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

00601389 · ltd · incorporated 1958-03-27

Investment thesis

Established operating company — standard diligence applies, no dominant angle.

Why interesting: Live, filing, normal profile.

Why risky: No standout signals in either direction.

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Mar 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

78/100

Strong

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What this business does

Primary activity: Other manufacturing n.e.c.

Sector: Manufacturing

ALSO REGISTERED FOR

46460SIC 46460

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 90-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 78/100 (strong), bankability 57/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 90). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Consolidate lender relationships. 10 distinct lenders creates friction — refinance into single-lender structure for cleaner diligence. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

9 live charges · 6 lenders · oldest 63.6y

35/100

too messy

Refinance path is blocked by complexity. Rethink structure or expect bespoke, expensive terms.

· Oldest live charge is 63.6 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· 6 lenders named — inter-creditor friction likely.
· Legal-friction score 35/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

Company profile

address, 2 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

9 charges (9/9 with lender, 9/9 with type)

Directors & officers

8 officers (7 active, 8 linked, 7 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared

Director network

3 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

114 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

78/100Strong

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

100

Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

—

Current Assets

—

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2025-03-31	2024-03-31
Average employees	900	1000

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

🔒Filing-note intelligence

1 signal detected in this company's narrative notes — going-concern language, audit opinion, contingent liabilities, related-party transactions.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →

Recent activity

Last 30 days

filings

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (36 events)Click to expand

2025-12-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2024-12-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2023-12-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2023-04-05
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2023-04-05
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2023-04-05
📄
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2023-04-05
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2023-04-05
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2023-02-01
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2023-01-16
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2022-09-30
➖
WILLIAMS, Jonathan Stephen Thomas resigned
director
2021-12-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2020-12-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2019-12-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2018-11-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2018-01-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2016-05-28
🔓
Charge satisfied #5
2016-05-28
🔓
Charge satisfied #4
2016-05-28
🔓
Charge satisfied #3
2016-05-28
🔓
Charge satisfied #2
2016-05-01
➕
ACKEE, Ellen appointed
director
2016-05-01
➕
COPE, Nigel Henry appointed
director
2016-05-01
➕
HODGSON, John Robert appointed
director
2016-05-01
➕
JERVIS, Claire appointed
director
2016-05-01
➕
WILLIAMS, Jonathan Stephen Thomas appointed
director
2013-04-05
🔒
Charge registered #9
Lender: Hsbc Bank PLC
2010-12-23
🔒
Charge registered #8
Lender: Hsbc Bank PLC
2002-09-12
🔓
Charge satisfied #6
1984-10-12
🔒
Charge registered #7
Lender: Midland Bank PLC
1984-10-09
🔒
Charge registered #6
Lender: The Secretary of State for Trade & Industry
1984-04-02
🔒
Charge registered #5
Lender: C. J. Cope
1983-12-19
🔒
Charge registered #4
Lender: J. Cope
1983-06-29
🔒
Charge registered #3
Lender: C. J. Cope
1981-03-30
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: B. L. Cope
1962-11-02
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Midland Bank PLC
1958-03-27
🏢
Company incorporated
As A.J. COPE & SON LIMITED

Owner dependency

78/100

High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS

-6 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "COPE" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 90 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

75/100

Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 90 years old. Natural succession window is now.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 68 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.
supportingClean filings + long tenure: Disciplined long-tenure operator — classic lifestyle-business pattern that often sells quietly.

Red flags

1 med ·

Charge satisfaction-then-recreation pattern

medium

Multiple instances where a charge was satisfied and a new charge created within 6 months. Suggests active refinancing cycle.

Shareholders & ownership

2 active beneficial owners

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Brian Lewis Cope Individual · British · DOB 11/1936 · age 90	25–50%	25–50%	25-50% shares · 25-50% voting	06/04/2016
Mr Colin John Cope Individual · British · DOB 03/1947 · age 79	—	—	sig. influencesignificant influence	06/04/2016

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

🔒Co-director network graph

Radial SVG graph showing every company connected via shared directors, colour-coded by status.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →

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71KITCHENS LTD→ 16592264 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
A.J. METAL WORK LTD→ 08153832 · est 2012 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	13y	—	—
AA SERVICEPRO UK LTD→ 15811164 · est 2024 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	1y	—	—
ABD ENGINEERING & DEVELOPMENT LTD→ 16388666 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	1y	—	—
ABI LIFTS LIMITED→ 09276282 · est 2014 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	11y	—	—
ABJ CONTRACTORS LTD→ 13566235 · est 2021 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	4y	—	—
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Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →

🔒Tailored diligence questions

8 specific questions generated from this company's actual signals — liquidity, leverage, director age, charge count, red flags, age-of-company.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →

🔒Advanced scoring suite

Exit-route ranking, improvement thesis, quiet-distress detector, covenant-pressure proxy, extraction monitor, approaching triggers, ownership drift, local cluster, value trap, debt capacity, archetype classification — 48+ scoring modules.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated1958-03-27

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC32990 — Other manufacturing n.e.c.

Registered office

Unit 10 Cliffside Trade Park

Motherwell Way

West Thurrock

Essex

RM20 3XD

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-12-31

Last made up to: 2025-03-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-04-16

Last: 2026-04-02